Questions about Grandad's old sawed-off

[TheWarhammer]

I have an old side-by-side, 12 ga, ERA shotgun (made in Brazil) that I inherited from my Grandad. It was his bedside gun for as long as I can remember. Grandad sawed it off to 19" (plenty of room to be safely over the BATF's arbitrary limit). He did it himself with a hacksaw and never bothered to reblue the end or clean up the cut.

1. So, what would be a reasonable expectation for a gunsmith to charge to chop another 1/4' or so off the end, clean up the cut and reblue the end?

2. While I'm at it, what can be done to loosen up the break-open action of this gun? It is REALLY stiff! I'm not sure what (if any) maitenance Grandad did on this gun over the last 30 years.

3. Also, the ejectors don't actually eject the spent hulls, but just lift them out far enough that you can manuall extract them yourself. Is that normal?

4. There is some very light surface rust/pitting on the gun. What can be done to clean it up without going so far as refinishing the whole gun?

My goal here is to make the shotgun as serviceable as possible without trying to really "restore" it.
Thanks!

 

[Geneseo1911]

1) Can't help you on the cost. If you are the least bit handy, you can cut it yourself, clean it up with a file, and cold-blue it (which is exactly what a smith would do). I had good luck making a square cut with a chopsaw.

2)Yep-Shoot it!. It's likely Grandad never much shot his bedside gun. The action will loosen up the more it is opened and closed.

3)There are a couple possibilities. It is possible (especially with an inexpensive Brazilian import) that the gun was made with "extractors" instead of "ejectors". Some guns are made to give the option of either, but that is unlikely with a Brazilian import.

4)Wet a piece of 0000 steel wool with light oil and rub gently, and it will take off the rust and bring the luster back to the bluing.

Hope this helps!

 

[TheWarhammer]

Thanks! That does help. I took it out with some guys from church earlier today and shoot skeet with it. I was absolutely amzed at how well I did! With 19" barrels, I figured I'd just shoot it a few times, just for kicks, and then put it away. I actually ened up ising it the whole time. As long as I got on the clay really quickly, I was breaking them pretty consistantly. However, if I missed the first time, I rarely broke the clay with the second shot. I guess that short of a tube really gives up a lot of "reach out and touch" ability when the targets get farther away.

I think I probably will just do it myself. I was thinking that I'd need a hone to clean up the inside of the barrels, but I guess taking my time with a hand file will probably do just as well. Any recommendations for a good cold blue?

 

[Geneseo1911]

SG barrels are relatively forgiving. Just make sure you measure carefully and line up/square up your cut carefully because you can only go so short...

Use your finger to feel inside the barrel and make sure there is no burr protruding into the bore. A rat-tail file or some emery cloth can be used to clean up inside.

I'm just a tinkerer, so the only cold blue I've tried is Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. One bottle is looking like a lifetime supply at the rate I go through it. I picked it because it seemed to have the most favorable reviews here and a few other places I visit. I was reasonably pleased with it, but it isn't very durable, which I understand is true of cold-blue in general. I got the best results by warming the metal with my heat gun before applying it.

 

[TheWarhammer]

Thanks again. I just got finished doing a deep cleaning on this gun. I took the action out of the stock and there was congeled gun oil and dirt in ther to the point that it looked like it had been packed with cosmolene! I spent about an hour with a tooth brush and a can of break free and cleaned every nook and cranny. Then I carefully oiled and reassembled it. Everything feels smoother now, but it still takes some pretty decent effort to break the action. I've noticed that it's a lot stiffer when you break it when it's uncocked versus already cocked. Maybe this action just takes a lot of force to cock the hammers. After all, it's not exactly a high grade gun, so I wouldn't expect it to feel like my buddy's Beretta. I'm used to autoloaders, so this type of shotgun is rather new to me.

 

[TheWarhammer]

Thanks again. I just got finished doing a deep cleaning on this gun. I took the action out of the stock and there was congeled gun oil and dirt in ther to the point that it looked like it had been packed with cosmolene! I spent about an hour with a tooth brush and a can of break free and cleaned every nook and cranny. Then I carefully oiled and reassembled it. Everything feels smoother now, but it still takes some pretty decent effort to break the action. I've noticed that it's a lot stiffer when you break it when it's uncocked versus already cocked. Maybe this action just takes a lot of force to cock the hammers. After all, it's not exactly a high grade gun, so I wouldn't expect it to feel like my buddy's Beretta. I'm used to autoloaders, so this type of shotgun is rather new to me.

 

[Fleet]

Part of the problem you had hitting things with it is that it no longer has any sort of choke in it. That went away when grandad cut the barrels off, so both barrels are now cylinder bore. You won't "reach out and touch" with it like that. You might be able to have screw in chokes installed, but the gun probably isn't worth it.

 

[TheWarhammer]

Yeah, it isn't worth putting money into having choke tubes installed. The primary value of this gun to me is that it was my Grandad's. I'm not trying to turn it into something that it's not, just trying to get it in as good of shape as possible for what it is.

 

[oneounceload]

Most likely, the gun has extractors and not ejectors as mentioned. With cut barrels, you have cylinder chokes. Too ease up some of the tightness, a good grease applied on the hinge pin and knuckles will help; however, most likely, the gun cocks on opening, making it a little tougher. Most of the Brazilian guns can be suspect in the quality department - keep it as a family memento and a fun gun.

 

[TheWarhammer]

I have lubed it with Remoil, but I usually keep greases away from my firearms, since they seem to attract and hold more grime. I can definitely see, though, how grease would be better in this application. What grease would you suggest? Plain old lithium grease or is there something firearms specific?

 

[oneounceload]

I use Shooter's Choice; comes in a syringe as well as a tube) - I put some on every shotgun i have that had a hinge pin and bearing surfaces. Any good grease like that, or the lithium you mentioned will do fine. By applying, I'm NOT talking about slathering a huge glob - just a nice film - you don't want it to migrate from there, which is why you should grease and not oil